Illicit Opioids: Office of National Drug Control Policy and Other Agencies Need to Better Assess Strategic Efforts

Abstract

I am pleased to be here today to discuss GAO's recent work related to combating the opioid problem and the role of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). Though drug abuse in our nation is not a new phenomenon, the scale and impact of illicit drug use in this country has reached new levels. Deaths from drug overdoses have risen steadily over the past two decades and are the leading cause of death due to injuries in the United States. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), drug overdose deaths surpass the annual number of traffic crash fatalities, as well as deaths due to firearms, suicide, and homicide, respectively. In 2016, the most recent year for which national data are available, nearly 64,000 Americans died from drug overdoses, or approximately 175 people every day.

Document Details

• Document Type: Technical Report
• Publication Date: May 17, 2018
• Accession Number: AD1169580

Entities

People

• Amanda Miller
• Billy Commons
• Eric Warren
• Gretta L. Goodwin
• Jan Montgomery
• Joy Booth
• Julia Vieweg
• Kevin Reeves
• Kisha Clark

Organizations

• United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

• Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

• Accountability
• Congress
• Controlled Substances
• Criminals
• Death
• Department Of Homeland Security
• Diseases And Disorders
• Drug Abuse
• Drug Addiction
• Drug Overdose
• Drug Trafficking
• Electronic Mail
• Emergencies
• Governments
• Health
• Health Services
• Homeland Security
• Information Exchange
• Law
• National Governments
• Opioids
• Public Health
• Public Health Emergencies
• Street Drugs
• United States
• United States Government

Fields of Study

• Medicine

Readers

• Aviation Safety Risk Assessment.
• Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.
• Strategic Security Studies